TWO YEARS OF A LIFE
[By Belladonna.] CHAPTER 111 —In the Sick Room. How the next few days past. Hadiee could not have told if her life depended on it. It was the same weary round to her. E lith aud Mary were anxious for their cousin to return with them for a visit, but she said she did not feel equal to jroing from homo at present. Edith had made several attempts to draw Hadiee into her confidence, but without success. She saw she was wretched and so proposed taking her home with her, but it was all of no avail. A week after Christmas all tho visitors had left, and Mr and Mrs Hamilton and Hadiee were once more by themselves. It was then that Hadico completely gave way, for the day after their departure, when her maid came into her room, and she tried to get up, she had to lie back again, her head seemed to be going round.
"Jane," she said, " what is the matter, why, are you and everything going round and round ?"
" I'll run and fetch you a cup of toa, and perhaps you'll be better to lie still." The girl Baw at onoo that her young mistress was seriously ill, so she went and knocked at Mrs Hamilton's door and asked her to come to Miss Hadiee as she thought she was ill. Thou she ran downstairs and got a eup of tea, and was back with it just as Mrs Hamilton was entering her daughter's room, so she told her mistress in a few whispered words, what Miss Hadiee had said to her. "What is the matter, my love ?" said Mrs Hamilton, tenderly leaning over the bed whero her daughter lay.
"Nothing, mamma," she answered, " only everything will go round so, and I am so tired, and my head aches so."
" Take this cup of tea, dear," and she took the eup from Jane and held it to Hadiee's lips. She drank it thirsting-ly, then lay back, with her eyes wido open, and a bright spot on each cheek. " Mamma," she said, "oh do stop those things going round; I shall go mad if they won't bo still." " Yes, love. Shut your eyes and you won't see them," said her mother. "Jane," .she added, in a whisper, " stay with her until I return."
Then she hurried away to find her husband.
" George," she said, as she entered the dressing room, " we must send for Dr. Harper at once. Hudiee is ill." "Hadiee ill? What is the matter with her?" said Mr Hamilton.
"I don't know; fever of some kind, I am afraid," said his wife, as she hastily removed her wrapper and put on her dress. "She looks dreadful, and thinks everything is turning round, poor child."
Mr Hamilton hurried away, aud despatched £i message for the doctor.
" Hadiee ill with fever. Oh, no, it must be a mistake. She tv.is the idol of his heart, his darling, his only child. Oh if she should die, what should he do without his beloved daughter."
When the doctor arrived and had seen his patient, lie said lie believed she was going to have brain fever. She appeared like one who had had a severe strain on her mind. Had her father or mother any idea if such was the case ? " No," they said ; " not that they knew of." The idea that she was grieving for Willie never entered his head, as he fully believed Hadiee only cared for him as a friend. So it was to them quite unaccountable this sudden illness. Gradually
she got worse and worse, and for days and days the poor girl's life hung on a balance. She got no rest and was continually talking and mixing up all the events of the last few weeks before she was ill, and then she would be a child again, and would be puzzling over her lessons, and so on, till she was utterly exhausted. Her mother hardly left her side all the time, though there was a trained nurse in attendance. The mother could hardly be persuaded to take the necessary rest, while her only child was lying so ill. Mr Hamilton, too, was constantly in and out of the sick room. What anxious days anil nights were spent by that bedside. At last the crisis came. Hadiee had been wandering more than usual all day, and seemed very weak and restless. When the doctor came in the evening he looked graver than ever, when he saw her state, " What do you think of her now, Dr. Harper," anxiously enquired Mrs Hamilton.
"The crisis is at hand, dear madam. There will be a change within the next ]2 hours," lie answered. "For the better do you think," she said, trembling. " I cannot say yet, madam ; she is in God' 3 hands. We must do what wo can, and leave the rest to Him," he answered gravely. Hadiee still talked on in a weary monotonous tone. The doctor sat by bulbed feeling her pulse, and now and then he administered a sleeping draught. If that only puts her to sleep, he thought she may yet pull through, if not, I am afraid there is no hope. An hour passed away, and still they watched and waited by the bedside, and moved about the room with soft footsteps, afraid to speak above their breath. Hadiee gradually got quieter and quieter, till at last she settled into a regular sleep. Not a sound was heard in that silent room but the gentle ticking of the clock on the mantlepcice. Another hour passed away, and still she slept on. The doctor then rose quietly and beckoned Mr and Mrs Hamilton to the door, fearful of making a sound. They three went out into the passage, when he said I think the worst is over. S'.ie has not slept like this since her illness began, but when she wakes she will be terribly weak ; that is what is most to be feared, as the fever has run its course, dive her a little nourishment when she wakes, and don't let her talk or ba spoken to more than is necessary, and I trust to find her better in the morning. I have several patients to see to-niizht, so I cannot stay longer. "Oh, thank God," exclaimed Mrs Hamilton, " that there is hope for our darling," the tears streaming down her pale cheeks, as she clung to her husbands arm. " And now, dear madam " said, the kind man'' I must insist on you taking some rest, or I shall ha\e you on my hands too," " Make her go to bod, MiHamilton, nothing can be done for Hadiee now, but what the nurse can do."I cannot leave her yet," said her mother, "I'm not sleepy or tired." " No, perhaps not, but you require rest, and must have it." " Yes, Alice,''said her husband. "I must have the doctor's orders obeyed," so he led her into her room, and insisted on her going to bed, promising to go and sit with the nurse, and if there was any change to call his wife. Poor Mrs Hamilton was so worn out with nursing and watching the last two weeks, that she soon fell into a sound sleep, how strange it is that a person can keep up night after night without sleep, and cannot rest if they do lie down. But when the strain is taken off they sleep at once, as in Mrs Hamilton's case, and she did not wake till the sun was high the next day. Meanwhile Mr Hamilton and the nurse watched by Hadiee's bed in turns till near dawn, when her father was by her. She stirred and opened her eyes and looked at him with a little wan smile, aud whispered, "is that you papa.'' " Yes darling," he said, " but don't talk." "Am I ill," she said. '•Yes my love, take a little of this," ns the nurse came forward with some arrowroot, she took a few spoonfuls, then closed her eyes airain with a quiet sigh. Oh, how that father s heart did rejoice to hear the first sane words his daughter had uttered for weeks, and to see that terrible pained look gone from her dear eyes, and he inwardly thanked God for his goodness to him. After a while he crept quietly away to toll the good news to his wife, but she, poor worn out soul, was in it sound sleep, and heard nothing- for hours after. It was a long time before Hadiee recovered her strength, and the first day sho came down stairs f-ho looked the ghost of her former self, her hair all cut off, and her thin white face. {To be continued.)
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WT18881229.2.35.5
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
Waikato Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 2570, 29 December 1888, Page 1 (Supplement)
Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,467TWO YEARS OF A LIFE Waikato Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 2570, 29 December 1888, Page 1 (Supplement)
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
No known copyright (New Zealand)
To the best of the National Library of New Zealand’s knowledge, under New Zealand law, there is no copyright in this item in New Zealand.
You can copy this item, share it, and post it on a blog or website. It can be modified, remixed and built upon. It can be used commercially. If reproducing this item, it is helpful to include the source.
For further information please refer to the Copyright guide.